So time’s waters flow and darkness falls,

So must I wander these harrowed halls?

For heavy are the wages of a single sin,

Condemned for eternity by all my kin…

“Ayanami-san”

The streets and alleys of Osaka are a heart-warming place. Despite being a large city, there is a feel of small town friendliness in the air that many, locals and tourists alike, find worth coming back over and over for. It was already late evening, the sun had come down and the night life was only starting to get in gear. A calm breeze was blowing through, a welcome relief from the stressful air of a salaryman’s life. Standing in a corner, with a small old backpack slung over one shoulder, was a young girl. She was likely nineteen, perhaps barely twenty but it wasn’t really possible to tell. Japanese women seem to have the natural ability to look five to six years younger than their natural age. She kept her head down, trying her best to cover her face with the thin veil her hair formed and with the shadows that loomed around her. Her movements were flowing, graceful yet this was artificial, as she herself would attest if she spoke to you of herself.

“I need a place to stay for the night.” She muttered softly to herself, almost as if her voice was being muffled out by the vicious sounds of a cold blizzard. “So very long, night after night without rest…”

She was dressed in simple attire, almost as if she didn’t want to be noticed or wanted to portray that she wasn’t really all that demanding of anyone, especially herself. A simple dark blue shirt with white trims on top, long sleeved to protect against the bite of the cold night air. She wore shoes with low heels, her legs just barely covered by a black skirt flirting five and a half inches above the knees of her long, luscious legs. She had black velvet gloves on her hands, reaching well into the sleeves of her clothing. She had plain white socks, the kind worn by typical high school girls. She was walking along the residential area, looking or glancing at all the houses. She had been walking since sundown, not once did she stop to rest and quite frankly, she found her legs rather weary from all that walking. She needed a place to stay the night and she hoped someone in the city would be nice enough to let her have a spare room, or preferably a humble futon.

She was of the typical Japanese woman’s figure, with long legs, tight waist, nimble fingers and almost child-like breasts, reminiscent of girls in mid-puberty. She was, in the simplest of terms, plain and ordinary. The only thing that seemed truly worth of note was that she was at least an inch or two taller than most women and her skin was milky white, almost like the finest of silks to both the touch and the sight. Her hair, black as the most starless of dark and starless nights, was long and flowing down halfway to her slim waist. Whenever she would walk under a street light, her skin would turn into a whiter shade of pale. Her lips, a pale and fading red, were slightly curled, the corners fading softly into her skin. As she lifted her head up at one of the smaller apartments, one that no longer had any lights on, her eyes came into full view. They were a deep, crimson red and almost shaped, the corners of them fading softly into her skin like the corners of her small lips. She was every inch an untraditional beauty but a beauty nonetheless.

She looked at the window beside the door, letting a slight breeze pass along as she walked closer towards the doorbell. The apartment had more than a passing influence from the west but the size and doubtlessly, the design and layout of the interior were semi-traditional Japanese. She had seen many of these hybrid apartments pop up in recent years, a sign both of Japan’s modernization struggles and Japan’s determination and drive to keep their own cultural identity and traditions. This looks like a good place and I think she lives alone. She sighed to herself as she proceeded to gently ring the doorbell. She stood still, waiting for a response. She stood still in wait for about a minute or two and then sighed and proceeded to move out. I guess I was wrong. She turned just as the sound of a lock being undone sounded in her ear.

“Is someone there?” a happy, living voice called out behind her. “Excuse me, did you knock?”

She turned around and pressured herself to give out a smile. It was taxing for her to show even a slight grin but she succeeded. She did look pitiful reflected in the woman’s ocean blue eyes though. “Yes, yes I did.” The girl answered; part of her apprehensive to ask what she was to ask. “I know you have no reason to but I am a wanderer, unfamiliar with anyone in Osaka and without any money to stay in a proper inn and if you would be so kind as to allow me to stay the night, I would be most grateful.” She bowed respectfully.

The girl, roughly only a year or two older than she was, was a lovely thing to behold. Her skin was fair, smooth and despite being snowy in color, it had the vibrancies of life to it that few others had. She was slender, shorted than the wandering girl but generally had the same figure, with the exception of the far superiorly formed breasts, which the wandering girl could somewhat see through the plain white night shirt. Her hair, black and shining as if stars were scattered across it, seemed thick tresses down her back, a few strands at the front and even less on the forehead. All in all, it was a magnificent black cascade on her head, matching and contrasting her fairness. Her eyes, as black as her hair yet no less in their shine, seemed so filled with kindness and gentility that it was impossible to miss, even at a mere glance. Her lips were by nature a light shade of red, the kind of red that cosmetics tries to but fails to duplicate with lipstick.

She seemed at first perplexed by the stranger’s request but saw no reason to deny the girl anything. Just as she was about to invite the wanderer in, a set of footsteps from within were heard. Then emerged another young woman, roughly the same age as the first one who came through the door, but bearing a far more distrusting and perhaps even arrogant air about her. She walked with purposeful and noble poise, her head held high and her strides small and controlled. It was not a natural way of walking, more like the way one walks when one seeks to impose a sense of grandeur and superiority over others.

The girl had long, long blonde hair that reached well past her waist. It was like the sun at its gentlest, beautiful, golden and beautifully thick. It was clearly very high maintenance and clearly very well taken care of. Her eyes were a beautiful, oh so noble Prussian blue. She was clearly not native Japanese and didn’t act like it. She was obviously a woman of European descent, the manner in which she walked and her artificial bearing seemed like she thought herself from a line of nobility. Her skin was smooth and silky, only mildly tanned and seemingly just short of perfection. Her body was another matter entirely, however. Her height matched the wandering girl’s height and surpassed it by two inches, her figure full and surpassingly fine. Her long, lovely legs were fully exposed and nothing left to the imagination by the high cut of her panties. She wore a midriff bearing, loose white tank top that had a neckline that seemed purposely designed to tempt since it revealed as much as it hid of her round, protruding and lovely breasts. Her large eyes stared viciously with the natural manner that her eyebrows curled together, she clearly didn’t like or trust the presence of an unknown woman at their door.

“Who is this girl?” she asked in English, it bore a European accent but it was unintelligible. “What in the world is she selling? On second thought, just tell her we don’t want anything, it’s late.”

“She’s not selling anything, Kath….”

“I see I am disturbing the household.” The wanderer bowed again, this time lower and more respectfully though she felt little to no respect for the blonde. “I’ll leave now, I apologize for bothering you.”

“Katherine, hush! That’s rude of you!” the first resident reprimanded her blonde companion and turned to reach out her hand to the wandering stranger. She smiled so purely that one could mistake her for an angel without wings. “Please, forgive my rather callous companion. She wasn’t brought up with the values and sense of respect.” She spoke in fluid Imperial Japanese, clearly confusing the blonde. “You may stay the night if you like. However, I hope you don’t mind sharing a bed with me since Katherine definitely won’t.”

“I can’t accept that…it would be too intrusive.” The wanderer answered for two reasons. First, it was her natural sense of humility that was unique to Korea, China and Japan. It was polite to refuse the first two offers but it was also polite on her part to accept the third. Can I control myself, in bed with such a great beauty? The second reason being her own nature; it was her doubts on her self-control in such a situation.

“No, I insist you stay.” The girl asked again kindly, this time in fluid English.

“I have to decline.” The wanderer answered, speaking in rather crude English that appeared to have been learned while on the streets. “It would be rude and intrusive of me and clearly, your friend does not like my presence here, outside your door and more so in your home.”

“Damn it all with your Confucian humility crap! Let her in already!” the blonde cried out in outrage, pouring for her tastes a glass of cheap whisky. “It is obvious you’re not going to listen to my advice.”

“Please, do come in.” the angelic girl asked again, pressing a little on the wanderer’s hand. “This will be the last time I ask you, I do hope you accept. That is, despite my friend’s callous rudeness.”

A third time, it would be impolite to refuse such hospitality. How lovely she would be, bathed in the moonlight. A more honest smile appeared on the wandering girl’s face. “As you insist…”

“My name is Rinoa, Rinoa Leonhart.” The girl said, sensing that the wanderer was intent on asking her name as she stepped in. “Are you surprised? I look very much Japanese but my name is undeniably not of that origin. My father was a serviceman who bought the freedom of my geisha mother.”

“I see, and in return, your mother married him, out of honor.” The wanderer answered plainly, still keeping her head low, almost as if she avoided looking at the beauties before her. “Whether or not that she actually loved him is disputable but I assume your father loved her dearly?”

“He wouldn’t have bought her freedom otherwise.” Rinoa answered with no sense of apprehension in her voice. She didn’t seem to think much of her parent’s past. “And you, what is your name, wanderer?”

“Most people simply refer to me as Ayanami-san.” She answered, bowing her head, taking notice of the blonde finishing what seemed like her third shot of whisky before briskly walking away to her room.

Rinoa took note of Ayanami-san following the blonde with her eyes and opted to talk of her, rather unwillingly at that. “She is my old friend, Katherine Richards. She’s quite rude, a little selfish at times but I trust her.” Rinoa explained, cleaning up after Katherine. “Give her some time and understanding.”

As the two were starting to get comfortable in their places, as comfortable as two complete strangers can be, it began to rain outside. Rinoa got up and locked the door again, returning to find that Ayanami-san had already gotten up and started making some tea for the both of them. Rinoa smiled, she liked drinking the extremely bitter Japanese green tea but could hardly ever find the time to learn how to properly prepare it. She watched from a bit of a distance as Ayanami-san’s hands, fluid but languid in their movements, went through the remunerations and subtleties of tea preparation. She almost seemed like a traditional geisha or a miko from the Kamakura era, before Buddhism was merged with Shinto. She watched those graceful hands and movements, all programmed into her muscle memory as it were, ensuring nothing short of perfection in the tea. She still held her head low, even as her hands exhibited a sense of pride as she stirred the froth of the tea a certain number of times and at the right speed to get it to settle perfectly. Rinoa had heard that it took years of training to pull of that sort of thing and very few ordinary people, save for geisha and those who are truly well versed in ancient practices, can actually do it nowadays yet she had witnessed this almost ceremonial act performed almost plainly before her eyes. She blinked and in that split second, she saw her guest offering her a single cup of tea. She smiled graciously, as a host should, upon receiving it.

Then, she noticed that Ayanami-san had not prepared one for herself. “You didn’t make one for yourself?”

“No Rinoa-dono,” she bowed her head slightly, deeply respectful in her speaking. “I sought to prepare tea for you, as a gesture of thanks for my lodgings for the night. I am regretful that I can offer little else.”

Rinoa was slightly startled by hearing that honorific. It was archaic, ‘-dono’ was no longer used and was replaced with the more modern but somewhat less respectful ‘-san’ honorific. It seemed rather odd that anyone would use such an archaic word nowadays but she didn’t really take that much hold over it. She thought Ayanami-san just a little too old fashioned, something she found odd but charming. Of course, that meant that she’d have to double her self-control that night. The main reason she even spoke to the girl was because she found her attractive, intent on sleeping in the same bed with her for no reason other than having a beautiful woman by her side. Rinoa knew herself and her hands were rather frisky and tended to grab things in her sleep, mostly unintentional and she blamed them on her rather intimate dreams. The guest, Ayanami-san, seemed quite old fashioned and therefore, Rinoa thought it prudent to warn her first since she knew her hands will wander while she sleeps. She feared disgusting the young girl but it was prudent and kind to provide her an advance warning that she may end up being groped quite a bit throughout the night. She’d hoped that Ayanami-san wouldn’t mind but that seemed impossible.

Rinoa sighed and took a short sip. It was extremely bitter, perhaps the ultimate acquired taste. “I should warn you, I’m a lesbian and my hands wander around while I sleep. I may end up touching you…” Rinoa stopped, seeing Ayanami-san blink and what looked like a curling of the lips appear. “Well, I think you get what I mean. I apologize in advance if anything of the sort happens. I haven’t…you know…in a while.”

I don’t understand why she seems so worried about it. Women have been that way for centuries, there’s nothing inappropriate about a woman touching another woman intimately. Ayanami-san smiled to show her understanding of the situation. “It is fine. I don’t mind.” After all, just because it’s between two women and not a man and a woman, doesn’t mean it’s no longer a valid attraction.

Rinoa suddenly felt ecstatic but slightly puzzled. “I’m sorry for my presumptuousness but you seem quite like an old fashioned young woman. I apologize if I sound like I’m jumping ahead of myself.”

“I cling to traditions; that’s why I don’t mind what you just told me.” Ayanami-san answered and then took note of the puzzled look on Rinoa’s face. “You seem puzzled. Oh, I should have remembered. Not many people know of the intimacies that tended to occur between two miko during times of winter or isolation.” Rinoa nodded her head, to which Ayanami-san gave a smile. “You see, the best way to keep one warm during cold winter nights is through…intimacies. And when isolated, one finds others of one’s own sex incredibly attractive. May I be open with you on something Rinoa-dono?”

“Of course you may, Ayanami-san.”

I’ve already opened it up; I might as well close it too. “I find you incredibly attractive.” Ayanami-san admitted, bowing her head in shyness. “I hope you don’t mind, Rinoa-dono.”

“I don’t mind, not at all.” Rinoa smiled kindly. She could feel her heart racing, her mind flowing out of control. She locked eyes with Ayanami-san, her body being slowly drawn into her. “I…I can’t keep my hands off you. I don’t want to keep my hands off you, Ayanami-san…”

“You don’t want to.” Ayanami-san whispered just before she kissed her softly on the cheek. Her lips moved down, once more kissing Rinoa at her neck this time. Rinoa dropped the cup on the floor as she and Ayanami-san moved, directing themselves into her room. “You are so beautiful, my dear Rinoa-dono…”

Rinoa opened the door, her heart and muscles tensing up as she did so. At the same time, Ayanami-san had proceeded to embrace her from behind, her arms wrapping around Rinoa’s beautiful chest. Rinoa felt a soft kiss planted at the back of her neck right after she took her hair and moved it all to one side. The embrace loosened and allowed Rinoa to turn around and proceed to unbutton Ayanami-san’s shirt. Rinoa wasn’t in her place; she wasn’t in her normal state of mind. She knew that all too well but she didn’t care. At that very moment, all she cared about was Ayanami-san’s body, her caress, her kiss. As the pale girl’s lips touched on her neck, she proceeded to slip off her own shirt. Both of them were starting to grow warmer, their body heat increasing. There was a slight tension forming in the air as Ayanami-san closed the door behind them, her lips still softly kissing Rinoa’s smooth, beautiful neck. As Ayanami-san ran her hands along the flanks of Rinoa’s body, gently massaging her, Rinoa leaned her head down and kissed her no the forehead, unable to resist the tempting presence before her. Then, suddenly, a knock came on the door.

“I forgot, there’s another girl staying with us here.” Rinoa muttered when they were disturbed. She sighed, her mood ruined and excitement dropped through the floor. “She’s quite shy and introverted but inexplicably beautiful. You’ll want her more than me if you see her, so don’t bother with the door.”

However, Ayanami-san drew away and turned her back to Rinoa, standing halfway between the girl and the door. Rinoa, frightened all of a sudden at the thought of a loss, knelt down and began to softly kiss the inner thighs of the visitor, feeling the softness and smoothness of her skin. Kissing her legs softly yet fiercely, trying desperately to garner the attention of the enigmatic woman, Rinoa almost wailed in melancholic defeat as Ayanami-san opened the door. And there sat, on the other side, was a beauty greater than Rinoa or Katherine, demurely standing there with her fingers precariously placed between her slender legs. She looked shyly at Ayanami-san, who kept her head low.

The girl was shy and demure while standing. She was petite, the smallest of all the four girls there that night. Her hair, icy blue and thick, was stretching all the way down to her waist. Her eyes were just as blue, just as demure and their small, slit-like shape gave them a very coy but innocent flair to them. Her legs weren’t long, just of average length, but were still lovely. The corners of the hips, the smooth silk that was her skin covering them, Ayanami-san immediately found her hands being drawn towards that girl. Her figure was much like Ayanami-san’s, small but pert breasts, slender waist and tight, smooth hips. A typical Japanese woman’s figure, smooth, silky, small but proportioned to near perfection. Her slim wrists and arms looked so demure that she almost seemed to shy away into nothingness just by being looked at. She was standing there completely naked, liquid flowing from her womanhood along her inner thighs, her fingers pressing into her body more, increasing the amount of the liquid. She blushed heavily at the sight of the stranger staring at every last inch of her petite but lovely body. Then, she noticed Rinoa, her head tucked rather uncomfortable between the stranger’s legs, the same liquid running down their legs. Ayanami-san kissed the third girl softly then moved her lips towards the ear.

“Lovely creature, tell me your name.” Ayanami-san whispered, stimulating herself in combination with Rinoa’s playful tongue. She kissed the third girl softly and then kissed her lips lightly. “My beauty…”

“My…my name is Yukina…” she muttered as Ayanami-san’s lips traveled down to her neck while her hands wrapped around her waist. “My name is Yukina Miyamoto…”

Something was very wrong though, Katherine knew that Rinoa would never act that way at all. That girl was just as untrusting of wanderers as she was. She looked around, she could just imagine what was going on outside. She could hear the escalating moans, the sounds of three different young women having some very intimate touches and encounters. Yet, inside her, she knew the real reason she could not accept what was happening at that very moment. She was jealous. For the past two years, she, Rinoa and Yukina have been living alone together in this apartment house, close knit but rarely ever completely together. She had developed feelings for both of them, she loved them both dearly and the reason why she never made a move for either of them was that she didn’t think she could afford to. She knew that if she chose to devote her heart and love one of them, she feared that she would shatter the heart of the other. And now, someone was moving in and taking pleasure in not just one but the both of them. Katherine slammed her fist into the wall, she knew something was very wrong about the stranger but she had no idea what. Frustration was growing inside her though as she brushed her long blonde hair carefully before trying to sleep. It was around two or three hours before the sounds of lust were silenced when she heard someone slip into her door. Out of instinct, she turned her ultraviolet night light in that direction and saw something odd.

“You’re immune to my charms, aren’t you?” Ayanami-san asked as she stepped in, the UV light striking her hair, revealing it to be a silvery gray rather than the black that it was earlier. “How interesting…”

“I knew something was wrong about you.” Katherine answered. “Red eyes like yours don’t appear naturally and they definitely don’t get that lovely shade of blood red on contact lenses.” Katherine got up from her bed and proceeded to pull out a small knife from her top drawer. “So, what are you?”

“I am a demon.” Ayanami-san admitted plainly. “At least, that’s the closest thing to describe me. Your kind has no word to describe a creature like me.” She smiled softly, suddenly appearing behind Katherine, kissing her gently at the neck. “I can only wander during the day but at night, my life force drains away with every move I make. I must feed on the souls of women to satisfy my benign hunger and I can only extract their life force through sexual intercourse.” Ayanami-san moved her face through Katherine’s long, blonde hair. “Your two companions are already gone, their souls sounding inside me along with the thousands of others I have consumed before. And now…”

“…I’m next…” Katherine moaned out in a mix of fear and slight pleasure as Ayanami-san began to gently fondle her breasts, awakening her inner sexual desires. “At least I get to go out…”

“In the arms of a beautiful woman…”

Katherine’s mental hold on reality vanished slowly, as Ayanami-san’s hold on her life force strengthened. Ayanami-san’s kiss was the last thing she ever felt. Upon sunrise, Ayanami-san quietly left the apartment, bowed as If there was someone there to bow to and walked away. She kept her head low again, hiding her face but she had a slight, small grin on her face. She could feel the stirring of three fresh souls in her heart, the taste of them lingering on her cold, pale lips. She walked around the city of Osaka again that day and for about three weeks after, Katherine, Rinoa and Yukina’s souls providing her with enough energy to survive that long, avoiding notice and not talking to anyone at all. Later on, as night came and the darkness began to cover everything around her, she smiled. It was time to feed again and she had found for herself a delectable new meal. The long legs revealed by a pitiful excuse for a skirt, the breasts far too big to be natural and the complexion and features of a European woman, right down to the high cheek bones. Ayanami-san smiled as she trailed her slowly, noticing that she was headed towards a girl’s dormitory. She couldn’t help but strain her facial muscles for another smile; she would be satiated for years by the girls there. She waited for another half an hour before knocking. She looked the part of a demure, innocent, desperate wanderer perfectly when the woman opened her door.

She bowed graciously, forcing another smile on her face. “I know you have no reason to but I am a wanderer, unfamiliar with anyone in Osaka and without any money to stay in a proper inn and if you would be so kind as to allow me to stay the night, I would be most grateful.”

…The End…